从2017年到2025年，“年度词汇”从“youthquake”“goblin mode”等一路发展到带有政治色彩的短语，以及像“ussy”“67”这样的细分俚语，凸显词汇更新的高速轮换。这个轨迹显示，各机构一再偏爱短命的青年或网络用语，而它们的文化热度往往在短短数年内就消散。

更偏重数量感的子类别突出了经济焦虑：外语年度词“内卷”描写的是竞争不断加剧而回报递减，而金融新词TACO与“debasement trade”则对应对关税反复试探和货币价值被侵蚀的预期。这些术语合在一起勾画出一个投入不断上升、感知风险攀升而边际回报收缩的世界。

随着生成式人工智能扩散，“slop”刻画了线上内容中由低质量自动化文本、图像和视频构成的比重不断上升，并与日益增多的“脑腐烂”现象联系在一起。实验证据表明，人们在识别过AI伪造内容后更愿意为可信新闻付费，这暗示注意力与资金可能重新流向高信任度机构。

From 2017 to 2025, “words of the year” span from “youthquake” and “goblin mode” to politically charged phrases and niche slang like “ussy” and “67”, highlighting rapid lexical turnover. The pattern shows institutions repeatedly privileging short-lived youth or internet terms whose cultural salience often collapses within a few years.

Quantitatively oriented subcategories underscore economic anxiety: the foreign-word winner “neijuan” describes intensifying competition with diminishing returns, while financial coinages like TACO and the “debasement trade” track expectations of repeated tariff feints and currency erosion. These terms collectively frame a world of escalating effort, rising perceived risk, and shrinking marginal rewards.

As generative AI proliferates, “slop” quantifies the growing share of online content made from low-quality, automated text, images, and video, linked to rising reports of “brain rot”. Experimental evidence that people pay more for reputable news after facing AI fakes suggests a possible reallocation of attention and money toward higher-trust outlets.

Source: And The Economist’s word of the year for 2025 is…

Subtitle: An unappetising symbol of a messy year

Dateline: 12月 04, 2025 04:51 上午